Applicator

Abstract: Disclosed is an inexpensive applicator in which the air within the inner barrel of a cap (6) is designed to intrude readily into the fluid tank (1) the applicator to increase the internal pressure thereof in the process that the cap is engaged with the neck (3) of the applicator, so that the fluid tank need not be pressed between the fingers for application of the fluid to be applied. The cap has in the inner barrel (7) thereof a spherical value-opening member (8) made of a highly flexible material, and the application member (4) is designed to be retracted and spaced from the caulked front edge (31) of the tip (3) when the application member is abutted against the tip of the valve-opening member in the process that the cap is engaged with the body of the applicator, whereas the elastically deformed valve-opening member is designed to close the front end opening of the tip when the cap is fully engaged with the neck.

Description: The invention relates to an applicator combination comprising a cap and an applicator, including: (a) an application member retained in a tip of said applicator such that said application member may partly be exposed from the front end portion of said tip; (b) a spring in said applicator for resiliently urging said application member in abutment against the caulked front edge of said tip so that said application member and said caulked front edge form a valve for the applicator; (c) a fluid tank of said applicator in which a highly viscous film-forming fluid to be applied is contained; (d) a neck in which said tip is held and which is formed contiguous with said fluid tank; and (e) said cap has an inner barrel and the outer circumference of said neck being in intimate contact with the inner circumference of said inner barrel to seal said tip and to be able to compress the air within said cap. Such applicator is charged with a highly viscous fluid to be applied such as a correction fluid, a make-up fluid, an adhesive and a paint. In an applicator having a spherical form of application member (application ball), a tip is attached to the neck formed at one end of a fluid tank which is filled with a fluid to be applied, and the tip bears rotatably therein an application ball in such a way that the application ball may partly be exposed from the front edge thereof like a ball-point pen. The application ball is resiliently urged by a spring so as to bring the application ball into intimate contact with the caulked front edge of the tip, whereby to allow the application ball and the front edge of the tip to form a valve structure, preventing the fluid to be applied from being discharged, when the applicator is not used. When the application ball is pressed against a surface to be treated for application of the fluid, the application ball retracts against the resilience of the spring to provide a clearance between the application ball and the front edge of the tip, allowing the fluid deposited to the hidden portion of the application ball locating within the tip to be delivered through the clearance to the outside of the tip for application as the application ball is rolled. However, since the fluid has high viscosity, the fluid cannot normally be fed fully to the surface of the application ball. Accordingly, the fluid tank is molded by blowing using a flexible material to be squeezable, and the fluid tank is pressed between the fingers to increase the internal pressure of the fluid tank for application of the fluid to allow the fluid to be fed to the surface of the application ball with the aid of the thus increased pressure. Meanwhile, in the case where the application member is rod-shaped, a tapered portion is formed at the middle of the application member, and the tapered portion of the application member being resiliently urged by a spring is brought into intimate contact with the caulked front edge of the tip to form a valve structure between the rod-shaped application member and the front edge of the tip, so that the fluid to be applied may not be discharged. When the application member is pressed against the surface to be treated, the application member retracts against the resilience of the spring to provide a clearance between the tapered portion of the application member and the front edge of the tip. Then, the fluid tank is pressed between the fingers so as to increase the internal pressure of the fluid tank, and thus the fluid is fed to the application member and can be applied to the surface to be treated. As described above, the prior art applicators suffer inconveniences that the handling thereof is troublesome since the fluid tank must be pressed between the fingers to increase the internal pressure of the tank for application of the fluid, and besides the production cost elevates since the fluid tank must be molded by blowing using a flexible material. Furthermore, an applicator combination of the type mentioned in the beginning is known from JP-A-505890, wherein the cap is designed to be able to be push-fitted to the neck of the fluid tank with the front edge of the tip being sealed with the inner barrel of the cap and reduces the volume of the sealed space defined within the inner barrel so that in the process that the cap is engaged with the neck, the internal pressure of the inner barrel is increased. Accordingly, the air in the inner barrel intrudes into the fluid tank to increase the internal pressure of the fluid tank, and thus the fluid tank need not be pressed between the fingers for application of the fluid to be applied. However, since the application ball is resiliently urged by the spring in the applicator according to JP-A-505890 the application member must be retracted by the air pressure against the resilience of the spring so as to allow the air in the inner barrel to intrude into the fluid tank. Accordingly, the internal pressure of the inner barrel must sufficiently be increased. In other words, the push fitting stroke of the cap in the state where the inner barrel thereof is sealing the front edge of the tip must be increased. However, the longer the inner barrel of the cap becomes, the more difficult becomes the pressurizing operation, inconveniently. Moreover, US-A-5 154 526 discloses a protective cap for capillary writing instruments comprised of a relatively flexible outer casing and a relatively rigid inner casing. One end of the outer casing is adapted to form a substantially fluid tight seal on the body of a writing instrument. A flexible sealing means, e.g., spherical, is positioned between the inner sheath and the outer sheath so as to form a substantially fluid tight seal on the tip of the writing instrument inserted into the inner casing and placed in contact with the sealing means. In another embodiment the sealing means located between the outer casing and inner casing is eliminated and the outer casing forms a substantially fluid tight seal by directly contacting the writing instrument tip. However, such cap, in its fully engaged position, only provides a fluid tight seal of the tip of a writing instrument having an otherwise "open" capillary tip. It is the object of the present invention to provide an applicator combination at a low production cost which not only requires no pressing of the fluid tank between the fingers for application but also allows easy intrusion of the air within the inner barrel of the cap into the fluid tank, when the cap is engaged with the neck, to increase the internal pressure of the fluid tank. This object is achieved by an applicator combination of the type mentioned in the beginning which is characterized in that (1) said cap has in the inner barrel thereof a spherical valve-opening member made of a highly flexible material; (2) said valve-opening member is designed such that it acts on the application member to retract it from the caulked front edge when said application member is abutted against said valve-opening member in the condition that said cap is engaged with said neck and the neck has compressed the air within said inner barrel but before said cap is fully engaged with said neck; and (3) said elastically deformed valve-opening member is designed to close the front end opening of said tip when said cap is fully engaged with said neck According thereto, since the application member is abutted against the tip of the valve-opening member in the process that the cap is engaged with the neck, the application ball is repulsively retracted to be spaced from the caulked front edge of the tip to open the valve mechanism. Accordingly, the pressurized air in the inner barrel readily intrudes into the fluid tank to increase the internal pressure of the fluid tank. Since the valve-opening member undergoes a considerable elastic deformation to close the front end opening of the tip after the cap is fully engaged with the neck, the increased internal pressure of the fluid tank can be maintained, so that the fluid tank need not be pressed between the fingers for application of the fluid contained therein, and besides the fluid tank need not be molded by blowing using a flexible material but can be injection molded using an ordinary rigid synthetic resin, so that the applicator can be produced inexpensively. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The features of this invention that are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claim. The invention, together with the objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of an applicator; Fig. 2 shows an explanatory view where a cap is being engaged with the applicator; and Fig. 3 shows an explanatory view where the cap is fully engaged with the applicator. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will now be described below specifically based on the embodiments shown in the attached drawings. In Fig. 1, a tip 3 is fitted in the front end opening of a neck 2 having an annular ridge 21 formed along the front end portion thereof. The tip 3 is made of stainless steel and has a bullet-like form. A ball housing is defined in the front end portion of the tip 3, which bears rotatably therein an application ball 4 comprising a 1.0 mm diameter hard ball in such a way that the application ball 4 may partly be exposed from the front edge of the tip 3. Incidentally, the tip 3 may be of a metallic pipe. A small spring 5 having a spring power of 40 g is disposed in the tip 3 and resiliently urges the application ball 4 to be in press contact with the caulked front edge 31 of the tip 3 to constitute a valve mechanism between the application ball 4 and the front edge 31 of the tip 3. The neck 2 is formed integrally with a fluid tank 1. The fluid tank 1 is injection molded using an ordinary rigid synthetic resin which can be produced at a low production cost compared with those molded by blowing using flexible materials. A fluid to be applied, for example, a correction fluid having a high film-forming property with a viscosity of 30 to 40 cps is charged in the fluid tank 1 throughout the cavities in the neck 2 and the tip 3. A cap 6, which is molded using a synthetic resin, has an inner barrel 7 formed integrally therein, as shown in Fig. 2. A hermetically sealed space is defined in the inner barrel 7 by bringing the inner circumference at the front edge 7a of the inner barrel 7 into intimate contact with the annular ridge 21 of the neck 2. The inner barrel 7 has a spherical valve-opening member 8 molded using a highly flexible material disposed therein. Thus, the front edge 7a of the inner barrel 7 is brought into intimate contact with the annular ridge 21 of the neck 2, in the process that the cap 6 is engaged with the neck 2, to provide a hermetically sealed space within the inner barrel 7. By pushing the cap 6 further in this state in the direction shown by the arrow, the inner circumference of the inner barrel 7 slides under intimate contact with the annular ridge 21 to reduce the volume of the sealed space in the inner barrel 7, and thus the air within the inner barrel 7 is pressurized. While the application ball 4 is thus abutted against the tip of the valve-opening member 8, as shown in Fig. 2, the application ball 4 is forced to retract by the repulsion of the valve-opening member 8 if the cap is pushed further. Namely, a clearance is provided between the application ball 4 and the front edge 31 of the tip 3 to allow the air within the inner barrel 7 to intrude into the fluid tank 1 and increase the internal pressure of the fluid tank 1. When the cap 6 assuming the state shown in Fig. 2 is further pushed to allow the abutment 61 of the cap 6 to abut against the step 11 of the fluid tank 1, the cap 6 is fully engaged with the neck 2, as shown in Fig. 3. In this state, the spherical valve-opening member 8 molded using a highly flexible material undergoes a considerable elastic deformation to close the front end opening of the tip 3, and thus the increased pressure in the fluid tank 1 can be maintained. When engagement of the cap 6 is completed as described above, the air within the inner barrel 7 is allowed to readily intrude into the fluid tank 1 and increase the internal pressure of the fluid tank 1 without increasing the internal pressure of the inner barrel 7 so much. Accordingly, when the fluid contained in the fluid tank 1 is to be applied after removal of the cap 6, the fluid can fully be fed to the application ball 4. Namely, the fluid tank 1 need not be pressed between the fingers, and the fluid can securely be applied to the surface to be treated in the same manner as writing with a ball-point pen. Since the valve-opening member 8 has a spherical form, it can easily be incorporated into the cap 6 without considering the orientation thereof, and further it can easily absorb dimensional errors, advantageously. Besides, because of its spherical structure, the valve-opening member 8 has a relief clearance which allows the member 8 not to readily undergo plastic deformation. In the embodiments described above, the application members have spherical forms. However, the application members may be of a rod-like shape having a tapered portion at the middle. As has been described heretofore, in the applicator according to the present invention, since the application member is designed to be abutted against the tip of the valve-opening member, in the process that the cap is engaged with the neck, to be retracted repulsively and spaced from the caulked front edge of the tip to open the valve mechanism, the air pressurized within the inner barrel can readily intrude into the fluid tank to increase the internal pressure of the fluid tank; whereas the front end opening of the tip is closed by the elastically deformed valve-opening member to maintain the increased internal pressure of the fluid tank. Accordingly, the fluid tank need not be pressed between the fingers for application of the fluid contained therein, and besides the fluid tank need not be molded by blowing using a flexible material but can be injection molded using an ordinary rigid synthetic resin, so that the applicator can be produced inexpensively. It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be embodied in many other specific forms without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims: An applicator combination comprising a cap and an applicator, including: (a) an application member (4) retained in a tip (3) of said applicator such that said application member (4) may partly be exposed from the front end portion of said tip (3); (b) a spring (5) in said applicator for resiliently urging said application member (4) in abutment against the caulked front edge (31) of said tip (3) so that said application member and said caulked front edge (31) form a valve for the applicator; (c) a fluid tank (1) of said applicator in which a highly viscous film-forming fluid to be applied is contained; (d) a neck (2) in which said tip (3) is held and which is formed contiguous with said fluid tank (1); and (e) said cap (6) has an inner barrel (7) and the outer circumference of said neck (2) being in intimate contact with the inner circumference of said inner barrel (7) to seal said tip and to be able to compress the air within said cap (6); characterized in that (1) said cap (6) has in the inner barrel (7) thereof a spherical valve-opening member (8) made of a highly flexible material; (2) said valve-opening member (8) is designed such that it acts on the application member (4) to retract it from the caulked front edge (3) when said application member (4) is abutted against said valve-opening member (8) in the condition that said cap (6) is engaged with said neck (2) and the neck (2) has compressed the air within said inner barrel (7) but before said cap (6) is fully engaged with said neck (2); and (3) said elastically deformed valve-opening member (8) is designed to close the front end opening of said tip (3) when said cap (6) is fully engaged with said neck (2). An applicator combination according to claim 1, characterized in that said valve-opening member (6) is a spherical member. An applicator combination according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said fully engaged position of said neck (2) is defined by abutment of a step (11) of said fluid tank (1) with said cap (6). An applicator combination according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that said outer circumference of said neck (2) is in intimate contact with said inner circumference of said barrel (7) by an annular ridge (21) of said neck (2).

Inventors: MASUMOTO YASUHIRO, MASUMOTO, YASUHIRO, Masumoto, Yasuhiro, c/o Sailor Pen Co Ltd.
Applicants: SAILOR PEN CO LTD, SAILOR PEN CO., LTD.
Application year: 1994
Main classification: B43K23
IPC codes: B43K23, A45D34, B43K5, B43L19